Covid lockdowns in Italy are starting to lessen. People are starting to come out of their homes and you can tell because the usual Naples traffic, complete with crazy driving habits, is back. I saw at least 6 accidents on the road in the past week.  Fortunately, accidents in Naples tend to be less severe than those in the states since many drivers do not have insurance, so they drive carefully. It's definitely a different culture on the road that's for sure!

Recently I got to be an "inspirational speaker" for my old youth orchestra. I got to see my high school orchestra conductor again, it was like 14 years hadn't happened! 

I started this blog in high school (or just before) in an effort to document the journey of a musician in all phases of development and while I haven't been the most faithful blogger, I think this blog certainly gets across much of my musical experiences if anyone cares to dig that far back into the past of someone else's life. 

The band did this video recently, it's a good one. I got to edit, drone pilot, camera woman, schedule and choreograph this. It was fun working with our amazing Italian friends to make this happen. This video was in honor of the Italian Liberation Day where we celebrated the collaboration between US and Italian troops in the fight against the Nazis in WWII.

I'm not actively in a small group at the moment, so I try to keep myself busy with my own independent projects so as to avoid getting too rusty. It's also a great opportunity to learn new skills and you never know when you'll need them. Playing in the band means doing lots of things you might not expect like writing/arranging music, editing sound/recording engineer, or being a videographer and if you didn't have experience beforehand, you learn on the job. These little projects, for me, are a way to get ahead of the curve so that I'm not completely panicked when I have to do something new. Call it professional development.

In this project, I tried three new things: singing, improvisation and audio mixing. None of those things are completely new, but they are the first time I made them public.

In this project, I wrote the music and experimented with the Leizinger bocal, which allows you to hook directly into an amplifier. Try as I might, they still haven't agreed to let me play in the rock band. A bassoonist can wish, right? This is a section from a Tango I am in the process of writing/recording. Definitely going through some writer's block, while I love tango and love dancing it, writing one is proving to be more challenging than I ever expected. I hope this is just because I love the art form and am nervous about producing a product I don't feel is up to the standard of real tango music.

That's all for now. My bassoon is in the shop getting repairs. Special thanks to Fox Products for taking on my bassoon on super short notice and doing a rush job on the repairs. You guys rock.
Peace.

Video Projects

Recently I completed my first major video editing project for the Navy. It was a lot of work, to say the least! The title is Segazz, some people have described it as a retro 90's throwback. It was fun.

Recently I had fun compiling some drone footage and riffing some rock bassoon to accompany it. I wish I could play more "rock bassoon."

I've also been working on another project that will come to a conclusion in the next three months, no later than the month of May I hope. The tune is Bachianas Brasiliera no. 6. Not only is it a great opportunity to play and perform but it's teaching me a lot about video editing, which is now something I'm diving into. Video editing was interesting before, but now I'm learning as much as quickly as I can since I need to do it for work as well. 

 It's been a while. I've gone through a significant career shift since joining the Navy Band and moved halfway across the globe with my husband and dog.
Since I'm not teaching lessons much online due to having a regular salary and not wanting to compete with other bassoonists who may not be so lucky, I have not been keeping up with this blog. However, since the onset of Covid-19, the Navy band is deliberately increasing its online presence in order to stay with the times and keep everyone just a little bit safer. All in all, it seems like a good time to get back into my blogging. We will all pull through these times together and when we get through them we will have learned so many new coping mechanisms and valuable skills. 
Since last year I have found myself writing and arranging music for various projects. I've also started learning how to fly a drone, edit video, and edit audio using more advanced software like Adobe. 
I really enjoy editing video and audio, almost more than performing. Here's an example of some of the droning footage we've taken in Europe (yes this is a two-man operation) that I paired to a song I wrote the lead sheet for 6 years ago and in which I am playing the bassoon.

All that being said, I did enter an online bassoon competition. Fingers crossed I didn't totally embarrass myself. I haven't heard if I made this round and I'm not sure when I'll know more but I check my email somewhat anxiously every day even though I have no certainty that I'll advance.
It's been a great time to catch up with old acquaintances who suddenly find themselves a little less busy. The winter months can be a little lonely for folks stationed overseas who can't afford tickets to go home when holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas come around. Then add the time difference, 6 hours for the east coast, and 9 for the west coast. Not that I'm complaining, I absolutely love living in Europe and learning a new language. Parlo un po d'Italiano adesso, non bene ma va bene cosi.
Playing in the Navy Band has created a new kind of financial stability that was initially quite shocking for both me and my husband. It's very different from the freelancing/teaching life. Overall, it's great. I've learned quite a bit about Navy culture and how to wear a uniform, salute, use the chain of command, etc. It's always fun when you find out old pals from high school or college took the same path and are living their Navy dream somewhere else around the globe. I think if I could stay in Europe, I would. I love being able to use, however poorly, my German and French skills in countries like Switzerland, Germany, and France. I found a new love for the UK and am always down to try a restaurant's fish and chips, only to complain bitterly about small portion sizes or soggy crust and undersized chips. It's hard to find legit fish and chips outside of the UK. Likewise, it's hard to get excellent beer outside of Germany. The Czech Republic has good beer, but it's not as good as a solid German Dunkel on tap. You may find yourself wondering if it's beer or soda since some of them can be surprisingly refreshing and sweet.
Italy is weird when it comes to their cuisine, the north can't do what the south does; fried foods, pizza, pasta with a variety of crustaceans and bread that is hard to stop eating when dipped in olive oil, and the south can't do what the north does; florentine steak, truffles and chiantis that will have you feeling light after one glass. Bologna has the most incredible pasta bolognese, you may think you've died and gone to heaven.

Here's a great picture of Napolitan Pizza I found on the web, you can expect to pay around 6 euros, about 7 US dollars for an entire 12" pizza, and you're expected to eat the whole thing, by yourself. This is your dinner, never lunch because the dough is still rising, and while some Italians eat it with a fork and knife, the more savage amongst them just tear off pieces and roll them up since the crust at the bottom is so thin. One of my dear Italian friends came over to show us how to make pizza dough. Unfortunately, it was a flop and I have since come to realize that the art that goes into making this incredible dough is not to be underestimated. This is why you will never get pizza in Naples for lunch. 

Positive Practice

Turns out I'll be stationed in Naples, Italy!!! 

I couldn't be more excited. Part of the job will be to play in the touring quintet which will take me to all sorts of countries all over the world, including Africa!! I can't wait to see Paris, and the Swiss Alps and Rome and so much more!!!!


Back-tracking to the audition preparation, when preparing for the Air Force and Navy auditions, there was a lot more to my process than was listed in my last post. Here are some more details about that experience and what I learned from it all and how I played my inner game.

While recording I tried to separate the creative process from the critiquing process. This is a mental technique I learned about from books like The Inner Game of Music and Performance Success. The first book states that the critiquing and creating processes cannot happen simultaneously in the brain. So I began actively trying to separate those two processes.
So when I was "creating" I was ONLY focusing on producing the sound. When listening back on the recording, I was "critiquing" by isolating what I wanted to fix. I did not critique while playing.
I tried to keep my criticism constructive and focused on what I wanted to do better.  So instead of beating myself up because I played something wrongly, I would isolate what I didn't like and set positive goals for my next performance every time I listened to the recordings.

An example of a positive goal would be "sustain pianissimo" or "use harder articulation."

What I did not do; I did not hear a bad take and tell myself what an abject failure I was at life, which anyone can do for any reason, or dwell upon all of my life's short-comings. It took years to let myself practice positively but it's been worth it. It's also much more objective to say "I didn't like my pitch on that note" or "I didn't like that articulation" rather than turning into an unproductive session of self inflicted injury like the monks below.

Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem...

An unintentional side effect of positive practice was that I found myself performing with a type of determination that was fueled by all the goals I had set for myself while listening to my practice takes. This focused determination was the perfect antidote to stagefright, which used to be quite severe for me.
The type of mental direction created by aiming for positive goals gave me a sense of fearlessness that cut right through stage fright. It was a 180 degree game changer and all started with how I practiced on a psychological level. It's cliche to talk about the power of positivity but practicing positively instead of negatively gave me the mental fortitude to play excellently under pressure.


Check out my bio on the UT Austin alumi page. I'm famous now y'all!

Gone Pro

I won the Navy bassoon audition!!!

I'm so excited to have a performing job that will pay me a decent salary, even if I have to go through bootcamp to do it. (yes I still have to do bootcamp, bummers) I'll be with a fleet band, no idea where I'll get stationed yet but it could be 1 of 9 locations. I'm voting for warmer weather...

This of course means I won't be attending grad school after all. I'm sad to be giving up my dream but excited to be making a decent living and going on this exciting new adventure to unknown places!!!

Now let's talk about the audition process.

Making a tape for the air force band taught me a lot about how I practice and showed me exactly what I sound like. The sheer level of honesty I had to have with myself was difficult initially but got easier and caused my overall level of playing to increase significantly.
By becoming very picky with myself over the span of 2 weeks, I was able to make huge leaps and bounds without spending a ton of time practicing. I probably spent 2 hours a day with most of it spent recording myself and listening, so realistically I only had the bassoon in my hands for 45-60 minutes a day. I did not do this for 2 hours straight, I would break it up into chunks. Luckily for me my schedule permits that style of practice, it wouldn't work for everyone.

• My practice sessions started with 5 minutes of long tones, I set a timer and turned off all electrical distractions and didn't stop playing long tones (in all registers) until it went off. 
• Then I started recording.
  Record - Listen - Delete - Repeat
• When I got a good one I saved it by writing down its number and proceeded to continue recording it until I had reached 30 minutes of recording (at least.)

This means that I would only get to 4 excerpts (or less) a day. Sometimes I would get an acceptable take, sometimes I wouldn't. I made an effort to forgive myself for the latter and exercise patience.

The way I critiqued and isolated what I didn't like in my recordings was based upon two factors: Pitch and Rhythm.
I would often practice with the metronome in my headphones and my tuner in front of me. This gave me instant feedback during practice performances (I treated each recording like a performance) and also helped in the focusing of my goals. Ultimately you cannot have a metronome and tuner on you while actually performing so it's important to truly internalize the precision required to execute the excerpt flawlessly.

I also used a Legere plastic reed for both the Air Force audition and the Navy audition, which was another game changer. While I loved using that reed (which is no longer fully functional sadly) I will say that bias against plastic reeds is still VERY strong. I mentioned using a plastic reed in the Air Force audition but did not for the Navy audition. I won the Navy audition. 'Nuff said? Obviously there's more to that story but you'll have to talk to me in person to hear it. lol

If you got through all of that, congrats and thanks for reading! I hope it was helpful. Remember to subscribe to my blog to hear more candid first person experiences from a bassoonist in todays musical climate.
Want to join my Skype studio? Online lessons are becoming increasingly popular, so grab a slot in my growing Skype studio by leaving a comment and/or sending an email!

Mental Practice

Some may think this crazy, but mental practice can actually be much better for you than physical practice and ANYONE can do it!

Mental practice is rehearsing a known skill by visualization or variations of practice that don't involve the bassoon, such as Eurythmics or singing.

Here is an inspirational TED Talk suggesting that practice is fundamentally a mental game and that practice time in a distraction free environment is *critical* to effective practice.

Of course if you have never done something before, like play the bassoon, and you try to do mental practice to learn how.. this will not work.
Now before you throw your hands up in despair because 'mental practice doesn't work!' consider this:
you ARE in fact practicing even when you have no clue what you're doing.. but this is bad practice and it is likely to end up being a hindrance.

So mental practice IS effective, but be careful how you train your brain! We already know that focused practice is the way to improve but what if you practice badly? Will you perform badly? In short; yes you will perform badly. Preparation is everything!

In essence, mental practice is most effective when it is the mental clarification and repetition of a previously practiced skill.

Note: it is easy to do mental practice incorrectly, so this is the time when you should be very careful and strict with yourself.

   ♫♬♪♩♫♬

   In this video Dr. Duke at The University of Texas at Austin and the Colburn School, who has done some brilliant research as to how our brains absorb information best, interviewed some of the top music teachers in the nation.

You can find this video and more like it at Center for Music and Human Learning: https://cml.music.utexas.edu/online-resources/

Try your Voicing

By the end of the year there are 2 questions I ask that I expect my students to answer and on which they can elaborate. We review these questions at every lesson and they guide my selection of every assignment for my students.

Teacher: "What are the two most important things in music?"
Student: "Pitch and rhythm." 

Teacher: "How do we control pitch on the bassoon?"
Student: "Air speed, embouchure and voicing."

Now if you're scratching your head and asking, "What is 'voicing?'" please let me elaborate.

All teachers know what it feels like to instruct a student to adjust intonation and it can be tough to teach if your student doesn't have much instinct for it.

Teacher: "Try to match the tuner."

Student: *grips instrument firmly, inhales deeply* "H00000OOOOoooooonk"

"Voicing" can make even the most confused students better able to grasp an otherwise difficult and advanced concept and helps put them in the driver's seat when playing their instruments. It gives them something quantifiable to use.
Bassoonists and all wind players, have been unwittingly using voicing for years, but this is my attempt to make the process more formulaic and address it in familiar terms.

There are 4 vowel sounds that make playing the bassoon much easier to explain and understand. Each register has its own recommended voicing. These are general markers, but bear in mind the lower you play the more open your voicing and the higher you play (until G4) the more closed your voicing.

Bb1-E2 using /U/ is advisable

F2 and G2 are transitory using full or partial hard /O/ 

A2-A3 is /AU/ as in taught 

B3-F4 is hard /E/

I will include an educational demonstration video soon. 

The Orchestral Bassoon addresses a similar topic but refers to voicing as merely a way to change "color" rather than pitch. There is much overlap between color and pitch so I focus on pitch over color. To clarify, I do not think that I and the author of The Orchestral Bassoon mean exactly the same thing when we use this term or even on how to use it. I am linking to it here so that you can see what someone else has to say and to pay due homage to a concept that did not completely originate with me.

Without terminology, expressing voicing in an unquantified way is very difficult and our only option. This is why playing exactly in-tune, especially starting in-tune, is considered an advanced skill. We teachers have a hard time explaining it and thus our students are left to themselves to discover (again in a non-verbal way) how to play in-tune with only their blinking tuner and undeveloped ears for feedback.

Once we start using familiar terms, in this case linguistic terms, we can start to make more accurate suggestions for what our students should do.

What is Practice?

First off, great news. I was recently accepted to the graduate bassoon program at UT Austin and will be doing so on a full ride! Woohoo!!! I'm so excited to have the amazing opportunity to work with other musicians and to hone my bassooning skills for the next 2 years!!

More good news, I recently sent a tape to the San Francisco Air Force Band and they gave me a call back. Audition is in April, wish me luck!!

This video got me really thinking about the purpose behind practice and how it actually works on a neurological level.. it's really fascinating. Take a look, you won't regret it.

Once you've watched the video, I'm sure you'll be as shocked as I am. The implications for musicians are incredible. It brings everything into a new light. We can now say "Once was a time it took 10,000 hours or 10 years to master a skill, now it takes (potentially) less than 1 year."
It also brings to light the very nature of what practice is. What we now know is that muscle memory is a myth.
Everything your PE coach told you is wrong. jk

So if we aren't training our muscles to learn something, what is doing the learning?
Our brains.
Our muscles are a crucial part to accomplishing anything obviously, but they only serve as the soldiers and your brain is the commander. If you already knew that, consider something else, your muscles can do nothing independently. That means anything and everything you play is controlled by your brain.
Have you been screwing up that fast passage recently? Time to stop retraining your fingers and start retraining your brain.

We already knew the key to perfect performance was perfect practice but I bet you didn't realize how close perfection was.. it's literally a neuron away...

Last thing: do you control your brain?

Ok then, there is nothing stopping you from perfect performance. Get it!

Reed Making Tutorial FAQ

Hey guys!

Check out my new Reed Making Tutorial on Youtube!

As always, email me if you have questions but below is a list of FAQs:


What is cane? 
The word CANE in this case is a collective plural like the word DEER (ex. look at all the wild deer in the forrest.) For our purposes the word CANE refers to pieces of bamboo in various stages of processing that are going to be used to make reeds.

Where can I get cane?
Here is a good source: http://www.BartonCane.com

Why do I need cane?
You don't need it unless you want to make your own reeds. You can always buy reeds from a music shop or better yet, from your teacher. If you don't have a teacher, feel free to send me an email and we can arrange a lesson through my LessonFace platform, or you can book me directly through LessonFace. I would be happy to mail reeds to you!

What are all these names/types? (ex Rigotti, Rieger, Glotin, Donati, Gonzales)
These are brands of cane and tell you where the cane comes from. Different types of cane come from different parts of the world. You can google the location based upon the name of the cane. Just like brands of toothpaste (colgate, crest etc.) each brand of cane is slightly different. Cane is a living fiber like all plants, and depending on the weather, there can be variations in the quality of any cane harvest. So brand names can be important but variations in crops are to be expected.

What is the difference between shapes?
If you go to Bartoncane.com you will see different pictures of cane. You'll notice there are slight variations in the way the cane looks. Some of them are wider in the middle, some of them have end that flare outwards. I use the Rieger shape when I'm not using Legere Reeds, however I prefer Reiger #1 over Reiger 1A which isn't showing on their website at this point in time.

If this FAQ didn't answer your questions, shoot me an email and I'd be happy to help you!

Bassooneo.ire(at)gmail.c0m

Graduate School!!!

Wire placement measurements as promised in my Reed Tutorial 1

Some very exciting stuff has been happening and it's time for an update!

The fabled recording of "When Life Gives you Lemons" may ACTUALLY be completed in the upcoming year of 2017. Who knew making a recording like this would be so difficult, it's been an uphill battle for sure. Our first audio engineer dropped the project due to sudden lack of interest, and the second audio guy dropped off the face of the planet evidently... If you want anything done right you've got to do it yourself I guess. lol *dies a little inside*
Now that I have a computer again, I will be able to complete the recording myself and give credit to the brilliant work that has already been put in by the talented performers involved. *fingers crossed!*

In other news I am going back to graduate school for bassoon. Not sure where just yet, but I'm very excited by all the excellent options presenting themselves.

Currently I am working on a project to make learning how to make reeds less daunting for intermediate bassoon students. Some of my current students are starting to ask basic reed related questions so I'm optimistically hoping to make a series of short videos that answer questions pertinent to the daunting tasking of making your own reeds. The first tutorial is just past the first draft phase, I will post that video to this post when we finally decide to make it public. After that video is finished I'm hoping to make even shorter videos that shine light on specific issues that come up regarding the "how to" and where to find the correct materials to use, so your feedback is critically important! Ask me your questions via email and I will do my best to answer them in a video. :)

bassooneo.ire@gmail.com



Until next time, thanks for reading :D

Reeds

It's been two years folks. It's good to be back.

Recently I've noticed a lack of 'how to' information on Reed making. I theorize that it's partially because reed making styles are sometimes closely gaurded by those who adhere to cultish exactitude on Reed making strategies. It's also the case that though some kids learn how to start making reeds in highschool many are often clueless until college, when they are *forced* to start making their own. I'm hoping there's still room for me to put out my two cents on Reed making. I personally believe that whatever strategy works for you is what works for you. You don't have to make reeds any one particular way, you become your own craftsman. Heck, I've met at least ONE seasoned professional who makes it a point to make ANY reed sound incredible. Then he gets payed big bucks to play on it. I once heard him say "and my student found this one under a couch.." as he starts to play on something resembling a reed, but mostly cat hair... Ok that's an exaggeration but there was hair on it and it did look pretty sad. BUT it sounded fine.
So the opinions are fairly polarized.

ANYWAYS I intend to put out a series of videos that shed a little light on the complicated process of making reeds. I will of course be happy to answer specific questions via email or video chat. (You'll have to email me to set up vid chat)
Bassooneo.ire@gmail.com

BUT FIRST YOU WILL NEED THESE ITEMS:

You will also need a plaque. (Not featured)

My mandrel is double sided but yours does not need to be! You can get two separate tools, just as long as you have a 'shaping mandrel' and a 'forming mandrel'

Tools to avoid: throat reamers.
Yes they're cheap.. And for good reason. Steer clear. Popkin makes the best regular reamer, opt for titanium.

There are a HUGE variety of knives you can buy, a really simple one that you can sharpen yourself is featured. Technically it's an oboe knife.

When you go to order your mandrel tips and drying rack (not featured) you can find them at Forrests the Double Reed Specialists

The tip clipper is made by Rieger. Still going strong, you can probably get that from Forrests too..

Make sure your pliers have 3 sections, one for rounding, one for clipping wires and one for grabbing wires.

ROM Double Reeds made my steel 'knife sharpening rod.' It is the simplest sharpening tool I have ever found and works well when you already have a good sharpening job on your blade of choice. It's a one tool wonder and doesn't require oils and clean up requires only your shirt tip. How's that for low maintenance?! Disclaimer: this is a good tool to have but not imperative for beginners.  

Alrighty then! Go forth and get thee some Reed tools! Don't forget to email if you have questions! Until I post my follow up vids, cya.

Long Distance

Let me tell you, life as as starving artist is pretty crazy, especially in one of the fastest gowing cities in the nation. I love Austin but the rent is skyrocketing and driving away the artists, who like myself, were just scraping by. I'm in a somewhat more stable place now out in Nebraska, it's never where I saw myself living and I don't wish to stay for long. However I have family out here so it's been really good for my mental and emotional health. Thanks family :) *hugs*

Since I've been out here I've encountered some amazing opportunities! I got to play with the Omaha Symphony (first time with a pro symphony!! woohoo!!) and I'm currently working as a stage manager with the Lincoln Symphony. Those things have been great fun. Jeff McCray, the professor at UNL was kind enough to give me a lesson since I've been here. (thank you!) I also got to meet an amazing accordion player named Julia who plays locally in small venues. She too studied classical music and we had a lot of fun busting out some tango pieces. Bassoon and Accordion actually sound pretty cool, it's kind of like the guitar and bassoon duo I had, but much louder and somewhat more brash. Playing with accordion doesn't require the same amount of dynamic sensitivity that classical guitar does (ie playing at 50% volume) but that's good because I've been working with the same reed for a month now and really need to make another... hahahaha.

Lemon Bar was scheduled to put out our first tracked recording this past fall, however there were a few hitches in the road and the production date got pushed back.. indefinitely. I am very excited to say that this is about to change because I have *awesome* friends/colleagues who made it a point to help me finish this project. (thanks guys!!) So we're doing it, long distance style!

The percussionist, Daniel Fears, who incidentally filled in on bass guitar for my recital when we premiered "None More Black" back in 2013, will be recording himself from his studio in New Haven. He is currently finishing up a masters of music at Yale in bass trombone performance, and yes he is an amazingly multitalented, driven, and wonderful individual. Check out his work here.
Josh Edwards, our new recording guy, will be helping our gifted pianist Hanna Lee record herself in Austin and then he will mix the track. Josh is currently completing his bachelors at UT Austin with a concentration on electronic and computer music. He is a classical guitarist and has studied with respected instructors such as; Adam Holzman, Chad Ibison and Isaac Bustos.

Then there's the bassoonist, who doesn't have a studio but instead tried to record this past weekend from her auntie's bedroom because that's where the acoustics were best. lol

So there you have it! New Haven, Nebraska and Austin! Fingers crossed y'all!!

and remember, when life gives you lemons, make Lemon Bars! ;)

Lemon Bar!!!

Click here to go to the Facebook Fan Page!

I don't talk about it much on my blog, but I've started a band and it's called Lemon Bar. I've been writing for the band since last August (right before I graduated). Check out our recordings on SoundCloud!!

The first piece is called Integration

The second is Superhero

People have been really responsive to our music which is SUPER EXCITING. So far the band has 3 gigs lined up;
June 7 in Smithville for Olde World Bakery
Guns and Giggles, a comedy venue on June 14 and
Red Eyed Fly, July 25th

I'm really exited. :)

The recordings aren't even that great and are completely live, recorded in a classroom with my handy cam zoom. No mixing etc. We'll get better ones at some point, this is all we could do with the resources and rehearsal time available. This is good because it means that when we have the time to tighten up our performance, we'll sound even better.

Both pieces have their own history.

Integration got its name because it is dedicated to my late grandfather Robert Clark, who passed away in January 2014. He was an accidental hero because he unwittingly integrated the Topeka YMCA back when segregation was on its last limbs on a national level, but still a seemingly insurmountable issue in Topeka. The piece pays homage to the idea of integration by taking a classical motif and a jazz motif and... (dun dun dunnnn) INTEGRATES THEM. lol

Superhero got its name simply because our drummer at the time thought that the raw idea behind the piece sounded like a superhero theme. He was trying to tease me, but fortunately our keyboard player was able to smooth over some of the hard lines... needless to say I was not trying to write movie music.. haha

The Making of Bach 'n' Roll

Like all good ideas, this one started out as a seed and had just the right kind of nourishment from the sun, wind and rain to blossom into something people can enjoy.
I was running in the park on a beautiful late winter day and I thought to myself, "gosh I wish I could just come out here and make music in all of this beauty!" Then I saw other musicians in the park, who apparently had the same inclinations. :)
I realized that a bassoon isn't something you see everyday just playing in the park, and that if I did this, it would attract attention. Then I thought, "hey wouldn't it be cool to film people's reactions and post it online?"
I made mention of this to my amazingly multi-talented roommate, Kamryn Armstrong, who had already made "music videos" of her own. However, her videos were not just recorded from an iphone.. she had a tripod and fancy camera, not to mention expertise. Click here to check out her work. She VERY kindly said she would help me make this video and was true to her word. With her input the idea just took off. She suggested multiple Austin iconic locations, outfits, even times of day. She was absolutely pivotal to this video, helping me do everything, even down to the types of cosmetics I chose to use. I got really lucky that she was there!!
Learning the Prelude from the 1st Bach Cello Suite was a challenge unlike any other piece I had memorized, because it was not intended for the bassoon. This posed a challenge because there are only two real places to breathe during this piece.. one is at the very end (lol) and the other is smack dab in the middle of the piece. Because bassoonists don't play this piece it did two things for me; it presented a challenge of creativity (finding places to breathe), a challenge of endurance (try not to pass out), and made me feel more at liberty to play without fear. After all, I have never heard another bassoonist play this, so that radically decreased pressure. During MQVC, I had been working on the Prelude from Bach's first Cello Suite as something I let myself do in order to keep sane during competition preparation... almost as an antidote towards playing music that 9 other people were going to play and be judged/compared on based on an unknown set of standards. Playing this piece meant freedom from comparison. After practicing for this competition, (which felt like forever)  it had gotten to a point where I had played the Prelude soooo much, that I started quizzing myself, seeing if I could do the whole thing from memory. It took about a week at that point, but I memorized it and solidified it.
When it came to shooting the film we did it in 4 locations and and 3 separate trips. One by a building that shall remain nameless so that I don't get sued... The other 3 were out on Congress near 7th, the Lamar Bridge, and The Wall of Hope. The latter two took place on the last day of SXSW. We made several full takes but there were other takes where I was just supposed to play a section of the piece and Kamryn would do a special close up of my fingers.. or shoot from a slightly different angle. I probably only had to play the piece from beginning to end 12 times while filming.
Once we had our clips, it was time to edit. I spent the entirety of ONE day editing and creating a patchwork of clips that followed the general meter of the piece. It was a little rugged sounding to the ear, switching locations where background noise always changed depending on the clip used, but you could tell it was the Prelude and it had overall flow. Because we shot film from 12 different live performances, there were multiple tempos. This meant that the background noise wasn't the only variable in sound when playing back these clips and posed a challenge sometime while trying to find suitable pieces to put together. I have to say again, I got very lucky that I was able to get all these live performances to line up well enough for the video-patchwork-skeleton.
Recording the track that we laid over the video-patchwork-skeleton was much easier and faster than filming. We got our take on the 3rd run through. Parker Johnson was a beast and used some very expensive equipment that he set up in his UT dorm room to get the sound we were looking for. That's right, no studio required, just the dorm room of a college kid. We used only two microphones.. which was interesting. I have never used less than 3 to get a good recording. Here is Parker's email if you need to contact him about his awesome bassoon recording set up: aparkerjohnson@gmail.com
Lining up the track with the video was just plain fun. The idea was to watch myself (on patchwork skeleton video) played on a small device (in this case, Parker's phone), and listen to that recording through headphones (attached to phone) while playing the Prelude in such a way that it fit with what I was watching and hearing. Parker would hit record and cue me and I would hit play on the video and play along with what I saw and heard in the headphones as best as possible. This was tricky because there are a lot of close ups on my fingers. Close ups mean I had to try extra hard to replicate (be) my exact self from a previous clip.. but since there were so many clips and different me(s), it meant guestimating as best as possible how and when I should play it. Then there was the actual music to take into account. I needed to make the musical performance that would be entertaining and clean... and make sense with the footage. I am proud to say that we did not edit the music at all. It is a full complete take from a live "studio" performance... annnnd it lines up pretty well. Did I mention we got it on the 3rd take? :)

Shot taken by Jacob James Garcia

YESSSSSS!!!

Public reaction to the bassoon was very exciting. Some people lined up to listen, others stopped to take photo and video. According to Kamryn (who is a saint/trooper and wearing the cream sweater to the right) people were taking video or photos from the side walk, or even their cars, with phones, cameras or ipads as they passed by on Congress. I got asked to do a podcast by one of the more stationary audience members who took an interest in project Extra Orchestral Uploads and we ended up meeting a LOT of really cool people. More on the podcast later.



As a cool side note, we released the video on Bach's birthday in homage. Happy birthday you philandering scoundrel. Soli Deo Gloria. ;)

Don't forget to Like, Share, & Subscribe to my channel so that I can feed mahsef! Click HERE to go to video!

Annnnnnd if you haven't already, hit me up for a lesson! Can't be here in person? Try my awesome LessonFace platform and have me over for a lesson in your living room.

Thanks for reading and supporting y'all :)

Extra Orchestral Uploads

The Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Symposium was fun and I got to meet a lot of very talented and dedicated bassoonists as well as see some dear and familiar faces. Congratulations to the first place winner Ivy Ringel, who is a great person! We got to carpool on the way to the airport with equally awesome person and second place winner Sandra Bailey, who played beautifully. Congratulations Sandra!! It was a fun ride and I had the honor of exposing these out-of-staters to the Texas phenomenon otherwise known as Whataburger. It was as glorious as to be expected... hahahaha

David and Julie Threatte of Barton Cane. Hook'em

Also, if you don't get your cane from Barton Cane, you're missing out. I've gone exclusive with their product because it is so consistent and high quality. Plus, they take the time to get to know you, where else do you get that? You can thank me later. 

Thanks to my amazing pianist Wenci Fan who put up with me!

I was really inspired by Sergio Azzolini's interpretation of the Vivaldi and Klaus Thunemann as well. Click here to hear Sergio's inspired performance! I feel that Azzolini's performance sounds very improvised which led me to make the daring decision to improvise the second movement of the Vivaldi live in concert. Playing in a style that sounds improvised is currently stylistic for baroque music.. however actually improvising on the spot, especially in a competition setting isn't done that often, but my gut said it would be a good move. I have my own theories of how baroque music was once performed... muahahaha. But in all seriousness, I don't think humans have actually changed that much in the past few hundred years and that what we once found amusing would still be amusing today... including a live improvised performance.
A lot of the music that I write for my pop band calls for improvisation, so it was a very natural thing to improvise Vivaldi. It was exciting, nay thrilling to improvise for an audience, as well as a freer experience for me as an artist to be able to make decisions that fit my current mood while playing.


Speaking of, my band is gearing up to make some recordings soon. We have six pieces so far and the idea is that once we have the recordings, we'll be able to interest venues with our music and get some gigs. FINGERS CROSSED Y'ALL!!!


In other news, I, with the amazing help of Kamryn Armstrong and Parker Johnson have recently released a music video on YouTube featuring the bassoon. Don't forget to 'like,' and subscribe to my channel!

There will be a blog on the making of this video coming soon! Peace out y'all!

Studio Recital 2014!!!

I am very proud to announce the first studio recital I have ever thrown, Studio Recital 2014!

It was a great opportunity for my students to play some music in an intimate setting for a live audience. Performing is a crucial part of learning and has an indispensable way of solidifying progress and building confidence! I must say I am VERY proud of their performances. With the exception of one student, all the pieces were tailored specifically to address challenges each student was facing in order to give them incentive to overcome those challenges. The crowd that showed up to support the students was also pretty impressive. We probably had around 20 people to see five students perform. It was a good day for all. It also provided an opportunity for my amazing collaborator Wenci Fan and I to air out some of our Meg Quigley repertoire, an opportunity I would not have otherwise had since I am no longer in school.

That leads to another interesting thought, competition preparation. I feel no one ever talks about this but it's quite the mind game. I have discovered from making the tape for the semi-final round it requires a lot of careful preparation. However preparing for the next round is even harder. You have to out-do your last performance.. which of course means practicing the same repertoire for an even longerrrrr span of time. No sweat right? Except when you play the same thing for MONTHS it starts to become very wearing. I must say that there are days when I have woken up, set up the bassoon and then stared at it... almost all day.
Now I know my situation is a little different from the other girls preparing for this competition, simply because I am the only one who is not currently in school. That means I am not getting any sort of regular check up from my teacher.. because I don't have one. I have to be my own teacher, and though I think I'm doing ok, another set of ears is indispensable. Especially a set that is older and wiser. I know I could probably be doing a lot better with more regular help, but I kinda dig my independence too. I really hope I get to go to graduate school for bassoon someday. I really love doing the bassoon thing and don't think I couldn't live without it.

Composing has also been an interesting challenge. To have inspiration you really have to do more than sit in front of a piano. So I'm trying to stay active with things I love, like spending time with people, dancing, and learning other repertoire. It's great.

Until later!

If you would like to take a lesson from me, please check out my online lesson platform and book your lesson today! The first 30 minute lesson is always free! You can be anywhere in the world to use this lesson platform! I highly recommend!

MQVC and why You should take a lesson with Me!

Life in Austin has been quite an adventure so far. I started a band a while ago, for which I have been writing music. I don't know much about composing, but I'm having fun and the very talented musicians in my band know how to rock out! It's been awesome. We've only had a few rehearsals so far and are building up our rep list so that we can take some gigs downtown. When I get a recording I'll be sure to upload to YouTube and share. And yes, I am playing bassoon in this band. :)
My bassoon students have been doing really well and it has been exceedingly gratifying to see them improve and grow to love the bassoon in new ways. One of the parents wrote to me one day a very kind letter of encouragement which I asked if I could post, provided that the names were changed. She agreed. Here is her letter:

"Katie,

I wanted to thank you for your kind encouragement today.  I am, of course, the proud mother, but I see Natasha as a wonderful mixture of courageous and, sometimes, timid teenager.  It took courage to show you “her” music and you couldn’t have been any nicer!! Thank you for your perfect blend of encouragement and constructive corrections.  I think Natasha is responding beautifully to your instruction. I look forward to her lessons and her subsequent practices. They are sounding SO much better!! 

With great appreciation,

Lily"

And in other news, I made semifinals (click to see my bio!) at an international bassoon competition called the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Symposium. It's open to anyone to attend and happening January 18-24th at Round Top, which is in Texas. It's a really big bassoon event, and it is incidentally the venue through which I first met my teacher Ms. Jensen back in 2010. I'm really excited to have the chance of performing for so many people. The event lasts for several days during which the semi and final rounds occur for the competition, but also many master classes from distinguished bassoon professors and other performances from acclaimed bassoon professionals. It's all bassoon all the time! There of course will also be people there trying to sell bassoon stuff, because we all know that when bassoonists geek out, they geek out hard. Which of course is great for people trying to sell stuff to them. hahaha

And finally in other-other news, I got to play in a rap song that will be coming out at part of an album called Bealerious, which should be coming out in late January. Click here for the Soundcloud link! Chris Beale is the mastermind behind the album (hence Bealerious) and when I told him his music would be all the better featuring a bassoon, (winky-face) he gave me the opportunity to feature in a song called "Right on Time." It is a rap song featuring Megz Kelli, a talented rap artist with the band "Magna Carda." So excited for RAP BASSOON!!

Recording in Sewell Studios for "Right on Time" in Bealerious

If you would like to take a lesson from me, please check out my online lesson platform and book your lesson today! The first 30 minute lesson is always free! You can be anywhere in the world to use this lesson platform! I highly recommend!

From Escondido to International

People have asked me why I named my blog "Escondido Bassoon Teacher" and there are two reasons. As a 16 year old when I first started writing my blog I had two motives. The first was to make sure that when you google-searched "bassoon teacher" my blog would show up. This took a few years to actually happen, but I'm glad I did because now (years later) my blog is pretty good about popping up when you search the term "bassoon teacher. " Escondido is simply the town in which I spent the majority of my childhood.. and at age 16 I though it was important that people to know exactly where I was in case they wanted a lesson... haha 

Now that I no longer live in Escondido, I have kept the word Escondido because of something my teacher Valentin Martchev told me before I left for college. He said in a thick Bulgarian accent ; "Katie Clark, no matter where you go or how well you impress people, never forget where you came from, it will keep you stable and give you perspective."

This was coming from a man whom I respected above all else, and who practiced what he preached. So even though Escondido is a retirement center with a downtown that makes a hollow ringing sound when you step foot in it, or where you can hear peacocks and parrots every evening, or find a random buffalo next door, it will remain a part of who I am for as long as I am.

That being said, because of cutting edge technology, I am now available for lessons world wide. If you live anywhere with an Internet connection (which you'd need to read this) YOU can now take lessons from me. 

Introducing LessonFace, the most innovative technology in music lessons. Click here to see my profile!

Please message me if you would like a lesson and we'll work out a time!

Skeptical? Click here to see a demo of the amazing sound quality I got from a very old MacBook. Honestly, I am truly surprised at both the sound quality, and instant relay. It's as if I'm inside your computer! 

The password for the video is: bassoon

Please excuse my appearance, the owner of the company, named Claire, took a live recording of me fooling around on my bassoon while I was in my grungy exercise clothes right after I got back from a run, just so that I could check the sound quality of lessons before getting involved with the company. I was impressed and I think you will be too. It's much better than other video relays.

Here are some step by step instructions for getting started. Click here!

I hope to meet you soon!

How Then Shall We Practice?

As Charlie is aware,

the biggest thing upon which I like to focus in lessons is how to practice. 

Most of the time learning how to practice is the entire point of lessons. You are your best teacher, but first you need to know what is important and how to teach yourself.

I found this article interesting and helpful. It focuses on the larger game-plan aspect of practicing. 

Too often it can be overly daunting to start practicing when you know there is a lot of work to be done and it must be complete, even though you have no idea how to get it all done. 

The answer to that is to break it up and break it down. Little bits are not nearly as scary as a huge menacing mess. Once you master the little bits, just practice connecting them until you can play the whole passage. No sweat right? lol 

Although conquering obstacles is rarely easy, this checklist of questions may expedite the process:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~In which key am I? Am I fluent in the corresponding scale/arpeggios/intervals?

~Am I in tune with myself? If not, is my pitch fixable with an adjustment to support, embouchure or my reed?

~In which meter am I? Does that affect my interpretation of the rhythms? Can I tap out my rhythms in the abstract? 

~If a passage is not clean, what interval can I isolate in my practice to fix it? If it doesn't improve with slow repetition, is there something wrong with my technique which I can see in the mirror? Is there an alternate fingering that will work better?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As with all practice be sure to be careful and stay aware of your body. Injuries to musicians are too common and can be prevented through caution and awareness. Even non-musical activity requires awareness as injuries can occur at any time. Try to avoid undue strain or poor posture, and remember to give yourself time! 

Once I got a fortune cookie with a very helpful thought. The paper within the cookie read; 

"Infinite patience produces immediate results."

Although this isn't entirely true, patience is key to progress. It is also a virtue in which I am often found lacking... but I will say that I get a lot more done when I give myself the opportunity to delve more deeply than impatiently demanding instant perfection as I consecutively build bad repetitions. Because of this, my patience with myself has increased enormously, largely due to the fact that a patient attitude yields faster results than imprecise floundering! Go figure. 

Like the Falling of Small Rocks that Precedes an Avalanche..

I got an email today from someone in Europe who wants to play None More Black with his band!!

HOW EXCITING IS THIS?????

There is next to nothing in the popular genre, especially of serious popular pieces, for the bassoon. In that sense, NMB is a jewel of a rare nature.

I am currently working with a composer to create more "popular" pieces that can be played by bassoon and a variety of other instruments. These types of works are, especially serious ones, so uncommon that almost anything we come up with will be a well needed expansion of bassoon repertoire.

Traditionally bassoon pieces that aren't classical in nature (and some that are) tend to focus on the comedic aspect of the bassoon or rely on amusing gimmicks. We have well enough of these comedic works, where are the pieces I can go downtown to play and make a few bucks playing it?

The answer used to be, "you picked the wrong instrument," but as of very recently "popular" works including the bassoon are in progress. 

 I don't know why it is, but people can't seem to take the bassoon seriously as a viable source or genuine entertainment. I will point out that if you read the poll of words-that-people-associate-with-the-bassoon, the two most unfailingly popular choices are Exotic and Expressive. If this is the case, why is the bassoon sequestered to the back of the orchestra?? It doesn't need to be..
An instrument with such qualities needs to get out there and just do it!!

There are tons of solo string players, but I could name on one hand the list of solo bassoonists I know. However I digress, the music we're working on  is not purely soloistic in nature, but rather features the bassoon with nontraditional ensembles. The fact that previous "pop" pieces for bassoon are intended to be either comedic or a novelty I think is too bad, and it's time for change.

Bassoon is hard enough to play, but when the only real performing jobs are limited to classical repertoire, you can understand why it would be stifling to play the same sorts of things over and over. I never want to play a Bb 3 ever again. You bassoonists know what I'm talking about..

It's high time we started improvising, but the sad truth is, bassoonists typically don't.

_____________

Here is the email I found in my inbox this morning;

"I really liked the piece by Ben Stonaker, I am wanting to bye it for my band so that I can actually play the bassoon in the band. That would be really cool! 

There are som things I am wondering about though, prize and parts. 

I am basically wondering about what the prize is, and if the guitar solo and so on is written or if improvised. 

I live in Norway, so do you ship over here? 

Thanks, and please excuse me for my terrible English.

Sincerl, Didrik"

(thanks Didrik for giving me permission to post!)

I have great hopes that this is only the beginning, and that once serious pop bassoon music starts to become available, a whole new genre of pop bassoon repertoire choices will not only be accessible to future generations of bassoonists, but to a certain degree expected. Obviously only time will tell if this experiment will work or not, but nothing ever got done by not being tried. :)

Fingers crossed!!